1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for transporting passengers and goods on a cableway between the ground and an aerostatic buoyancy body.
2. History of Related Art
Similar transport channels, though only for transporting goods, are known e.g. from SU 18 087 65 A1 and in a somewhat extended sense also from SU 58 60 22. Passenger and goods cableways are also known per se.
In the case of the cableways known from the citations, the main purpose is to transport heavy goods such as tree-trunks, building material or the like substantially horizontally in areas where no runways, railways or similar structures can or may be constructed. The solutions found may therefore be adequate to solve the problems posed. In the known devices the aerostatic buoyancy body also serves as a support or a suspension tower but not as a cableway station.
Cableway construction between two stationary sites for transport of passengers and goods is a highly-developed branch of the art. In the art of captive aerostats for monitoring space by electronic means, there are known structures and devices for anchoring, lowering and drawing in captive balloons of the kind in question, e.g. in the pamphlet "71 M.TM. Aerostat" published by Messrs TCOM, L.P., Columbia, Md., USA.
However, when constructing a cableway to an aerostatic buoyancy body, problems occur which cannot be solved by transferring known solutions from the sector of terrestrial cableway construction to the special features of the art of captive balloons. The term "captive balloon" here and hereinafter will basically stand for an aerostatic buoyancy body which is anchored to ground by a line and can also comprise components of an aerodynamic buoyancy means.
The problem in the present case is to construct a cableway between the ground and a captive balloon so as to allow for the limited carrying capacity of aerostats and for all the relevant safety aspects. Another aim is to transport groups of passengers quickly and provide them with a safe stopping place on a platform carried by a captive balloon.
The solution of the posed problem, as regards its main features and other advantageous features are disclosed in the claims.